Greening the Next Generation Of Principals

The nation's reservoir of experienced principals is about to
become seriously depleted.

The nation's reservoir of experienced principals is
about to become seriously depleted.

School reform is on the run, and for good reason. The nation's
reservoir of experienced principals is about to become seriously
depleted, leaving reform to the rookies. Forty percent of our
elementary, middle, and high school principals are about to retire,
according U.S. Department of Labor statistics.

Passing the leadership baton to the next generation of principals is
not necessarily bad. After all, fresh blood can bring fresh approaches
and bold new solutions.

But here is the difficulty. In a growing number of districts,
superintendents and school board members report that the number of
qualified candidates who are motivated to become school administrators
is dangerously low. Not a big surprise, considering the overwhelming
demands placed on principals, the marginal respect given to them by the
broader school community, and the skimpy resources and inadequate
support available for changing instructional practices.

If nothing is done to correct the situation, we undoubtedly will be
adding "school leadership crisis" to America's current litany of
education woes.

Consider three challenges facing principals and their schools:

Districts are awash in new initiatives, giving rise to
‘initiative fatigue.’

1. Over the last several years, districts have become awash in new
initiatives, from curriculum reform to school safety. Initiative
fatigue is setting in, even among veteran principals, who spend much of
their time fighting pitched battles with faculties and communities
reluctant to change current beliefs and practices. While the number of
new initiatives has skyrocketed, successful implementation remains a
rarity.

2. The locus of authority is shifting radically in districts
throughout the country. School-based management has become the latest
hurrah, and with it decisionmaking responsibility has been pushed
downward. Issues that were once resolved at higher district levels now
land on the doorstep of those closest to where the issue
originates.

Given the trend toward decentralization, how do principals set
parameters, and how should they involve increasingly diverse and
demanding stakeholders? How can they better anticipate and avoid
potential problems that inevitably accompany change, especially when
principals are expected to act at "the speed of thought"? And how can
they move reform forward without leaving a trail of change-weary
teachers and administrators in their wake?

3. Experience is no longer the valuable teacher it once was. Many of
today's principals have followed the same training track as their
predecessors. They have come up through the ranks, counting on
experience as the ultimate skill-builder. But unrelenting, rapid change
has become the new status quo. In such an environment, experience can
take us only so far. Too often, the skills our principals are acquiring
by experience are inadequate to meet the complicated demands placed on
school leaders today.

To meet the challenge, the "greening" process for developing the
skills of our nation's rookie principals must be rethought. And
incidentally, veteran principals could also benefit enormously from
retooling. Here is a case in point:

J.S. is a freshly minted principal in a Midwestern middle school
with 1,000 students. When he assumed responsibility for the top
leadership position, he knew it wouldn't be a cakewalk. The school was
in the throes of a budget crisis. Enrollment was down, and the school
population was shifting to a more diverse mix of students. New union
contract negotiations were looming, and there were mounting concerns
about school safety. The list goes on.

The first thing J.S. did was to do nothing—but think. Task one
was to set priorities, which he did by asking which issues were most
serious, urgent, and growing. Some of the issues he labeled "problems."
Something had gone wrong, no one knew why, and he had to find the root
cause of trouble. Other issues were "decisions": Tough choices had to
be made between competing alternatives. Still other issues he labeled
"potential problems and opportunities." These issues appeared dimly on
the horizon and had to be dealt with before trouble arrived or an
opportunity evaporated.

J.S.'s next move was to involve all relevant parties. But rather
than risk the usual free-for-all, he decided to develop the
problem-solving, decisionmaking, and planning skills of those
shouldering the responsibility for resolution. School administrators
and teachers attended a workshop to learn and practice a process that
would enable them to attack issues in the same, systematic way. J.S.
wanted everyone talking the same language and thinking through issues
in a similar manner.

To green tomorrow's principals, begin by giving them
the fundamentals.

He knew that one of four different kinds of thinking strategies
needed to be applied to each situation. A discrete analytical
process—"situation appraisal"—was required to set
priorities. "Problem analysis" was needed to find the cause or causes
of trouble. "Decision analysis" was the process needed to make choices.
To protect a plan from going awry, he knew a leader should use
"potential problem analysis." And finally, to take advantage of
opportunities in a timely fashion, "potential opportunity analysis" was
the relevant thinking process.

J.S.'s approach proved successful. And his success is instructive.
He realized, first, that problem-solving and decisionmaking are too
important to be left to chance. These are thinking tasks that
need to be honed in order to handle issues effectively and master
change.

J.S.'s experience points to a critically important but often
overlooked tool in a principal's arsenal: the use of a shared,
systematic approach or process to cut through the tangle of divergent
elements, opinions, priorities, possibilities, and needs. A process is
a step-by-step approach to asking questions, processing information,
making judgments, and taking action.

To green tomorrow's principals, begin by giving them the
fundamentals. Since everything they do requires some combination of
setting priorities, solving problems, making decisions, and planning,
encourage them to acquire the process skills needed to carry out these
mental exercises.

When principals apply a systematic problem-solving and decision
making process, they maximize their ability to set priorities and
address the problems, decisions, and issues that confront them and
their schools.

By converting problem-solving and decisionmaking from an act of
intuition and gut feeling to a conscious capability, a systematic
process allows experienced and rookie leaders alike to improve their
own capabilities and sharpen the decisionmaking skills of other key
players. When everyone uses the same systematic process to attack
issues, involvement becomes meaningful and effective. While experience
remains important, a systematic process enables rookie principals to
ask the right questions and assess information, even in those
situations where the past is no longer instructive.

A systematic problem-solving and decision making process may not be
a panacea, but it is fast becoming an ally in the effort to green
tomorrow's leaders. For both rookie principals and veterans, the surest
path to managing schools and implementing reform rests on their ability
to zero in on priorities, ask the right questions, examine all the
options, assess risk, and involve those around them in a focused search
for solutions.

Robert A. Klempen is the executive director and Cynthia T.
Richetti is the vice president of the Tregoe Education Forum, a
nonprofit foundation based in Princeton, N.J., that specializes in
developing the capabilities of school administrators, teachers, and
students. Ms. Richetti is the co-author of Analytic Processes for
School Leaders, published this year by the Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development. The authors can be reached at info@tregoe.org.

Robert A. Klempen is the executive director and Cynthia T. Richetti is
the vice president of the Tregoe Education Forum, a nonprofit
foundation based in Princeton, N.J., that specializes in developing the
capabilities of school administrators, teachers, and students. Ms.
Richetti is the co-author of Analytic Processes for School Leaders,
published this year by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development. The authors can be reached at info@tregoe.org.

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